Europe Factors to Watch-Shares set to track Wall Street's selloff

Redacción de Reuters

7 MIN. DE LECTURA

PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - European stocks were set to fall on Monday,
halting their three-week rally and tracking a selloff on Wall Street on Friday
where a number of high-growth companies mostly in the tech and biotech tumbled.
The retreat could be limited, however, as M&A activity in Europe fuels hopes
of further consolidation.
Switzerland's Holcim unveiled an all-share deal to buy France's
Lafarge on Monday to create the world's biggest cement maker with
combined sales of 32 billion euros ($44 billion).
France's Vivendi said it had accepted cable company Numericable's
bid for its telecom unit SFR, which would give Vivendi at least 13.5
billion euros ($18.5 billion) in cash plus a 20-percent stake in the new entity.
At 0620 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50, for UK's FTSE 100,
for Germany's DAX and for France's CAC were down 0.8 percent.
The Nasdaq Composite sank 2.6 percent, following a nearly 1 percent
slide on Thursday, dragged lower by a selloff in tech and biotech shares, seen
as "momentum stocks" that had led 2013's rally.
"Perhaps the key equity story now is the horrible price action in the
momentum/growth stocks; especially ones that trade - or at least did trade - on
outrageous valuations," Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, wrote in a
note.
"Anyone who has been watching price action on Twitter, Facebook, Tesla and
Amazon, among others, would not see this as a particularly new story, as they
are all in or around bear market territory."
European stocks rallied on Friday, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index
of top European shares hitting its highest level in 5-1/2 years, boosted by M&A
fever in construction, speculation about further stimulus by the European
Central Bank and U.S. jobs data that suggested a solid pace of hiring for a
second month in a row.
Italian banks will be in focus after the chief executive of UniCredit
said on Saturday that Italian banks would be at a disadvantage if the
European Central Bank decides to buy asset-backed securities as part of
unconventional measures aimed at staving off deflation risks.
A German newspaper reported late on Friday that the ECB has modelled the
economic effects of buying 1 trillion euros ($1.37 trillion) of securities as
part of a quantitative easing (QE) programme.
Europe bourses in 2014: link.reuters.com/pad95v
Asset performance in 2014: link.reuters.com/rav46v
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MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0624 GMT:
LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 1,865.09 -1.25 % -23.68
NIKKEI 14,808.85 -1.69 % -254.92
MSCI ASIA EX-JP 474.77 -0.13 % -0.61
EUR/USD 1.3704 0.01 % 0.0002
USD/JPY 103.12 -0.15 % -0.1600
10-YR US TSY YLD 2.721 -- -0.01
10-YR BUND YLD 1.546 -- -0.01
SPOT GOLD $1,299.90 -0.17 % -$2.22
US CRUDE $100.72 -0.42 % -0.42
> GLOBAL MARKETS-Tech shares slip; others relieved at US jobs
> US STOCKS-Momentum stocks sink; Nasdaq posts worst day since Feb
> Nikkei falls, SoftBank dives on selloff in U.S. tech stocks
> FOREX-Dollar subdued after jobs data, euro wary of ECB stimulus
> PRECIOUS-Gold holds gains as US jobs data soothes interest rate fears
> METALS-London copper dips to one-week low on China holiday
> Brent slips below $106 as Libya deal eases supply worries
COMPANY NEWS:
LAFARGE
The world's two largest cement makers, France's Lafarge and Holcim of
Switzerland, have agreed the terms of a merger that would create a company with
a market value of around $55 billion, a source close to the deal said.
ITALIAN BANKS
Italian lenders would be at a disadvantage if the European Central Bank
decides to buy asset-backed securities as part of unconventional measures aimed
at staving off deflation risks, the chief executive of UniCredit said on
Saturday.
UNICREDIT
Italy's biggest bank by assets is trying to sell a chunk of its
non-performing loans together with its debt collection unit, the chief executive
of the Italian bank said on Saturday, citing strong investor interest for
distressed assets in the country.
CREDIT SUISSE
Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial services superintendent, has sought
documents from Credit Suisse to examine whether Switzerland's second-biggest
bank lied to New York authorities about engineering tax shelters, said a source
familiar with the matter.
NUMERICABLE, VIVENDI, BOUYGUES
Numericable won a fierce month-long bidding war against mobile rival
Bouygues for the prize of SFR on Saturday when Vivendi announced it had decided
to go with Numericable's offer, which combined 13.5 billion euros in cash, a 20
percent stake in the combined entity and a potential milestone payment.
Numericable will launch a rights issue worth up to 4.7 billion euros to help
fund its acquisition of Vivendi unit SFR, Numericable said.
RENAULT
The head of the Renault-Nissan alliance said he saw great potential in
Russia despite a slowdown in car sales and was unperturbed by the geopolitical
situation, seeming to shrug off Moscow's standoff with the West over Ukraine.
SANOFI
Sanofi said it plans to resubmit its application for its Lemtrada drug for the
treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis following "constructive
discussions" with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
AIR FRANCE KLM
Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM said passenger traffic was unchanged
year-on-year in March, whilst its cargo business registered growth of 2.7
percent.
CASINO
French retailer Casino said it had exercised an option to buy 8.9 million
preferred shares in Brazil's top retailer, Grupo Pao de Acucar, raising its
stake to 41.4 percent from 38 percent.
BANKIA, IBERDROLA
Bankia chairman Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri said it may be time to sell the
bank's near 5 percent stake in Spanish utility Iberdrola, Expansion reported,
citing news agency EFE.
(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Tricia Wright)